Breathing, living and a lot of planting Early July

Isn’t there a saying along the lines of if you are lonely get a dog, if you want to be truly happy get a garden?

My garden belongs to my children but the allotment, well that’s all mine. Since getting my plot I have become quite attached to it.

Breathing is a pleasure over there, the air in London is rotten by comparison. On site you can take in the sea air which rolls up from the Estuary - mixed in to that the perfumes of sweet peas, wild flowers and thousands of fresh plants.

I love being the first to get there on the weekend mornings so as to have the place for myself for a while before you hear the gates grate open down the bottom and people begin to trickle in.

The exercise has put me back into shape; I’m always on the move doing something or another. I hardly watch the telly; it’s an utter waste of time when I do.

It’s true what other blogger’s have said. It’s a place where you generally get the best out of people. Kindness community and respect are in abundance. Although sometimes you want that precious hour or so to do something, even if it’s just to clear your head from the shit day you’ve had at work and it takes you forty-five minutes to reach your plot because everyone and his dog or cat wants a bit of banter. I still haven’t worked out the technique of waving or nodding and moving on and because I’m a generally a chatty kind of fellow I know I probably cut into peoples golden hour by engaging them sometimes too.

My kids love coming over although. The site has a lot of parents who bring their children and they soon group up and explore the wild garden and orchard. There’s a small frog pond which my boys really like. The place feels safe and I’m happy to let them walk about just as long as they are well mannered and report back every so often. I have had lots of compliments on their behaviour, which makes me a proud dad.

Onto the food front; well everything is looking fantastic. I finally reached the back of my plot and planted two rows of calabrese, two rows of leeks and right at the back I have a pumpkin and squash.

To the other corner at the back I had been given an abundance of freebies. Two further rows of Leeks went in. Some more courgette and marrow plants were dug in. Brussels sprouts, Broccoli and Swede.

I have three sweet pepper plants and two aubergines.

Phew.

It seems the spell checker is not a fan of calabrese.

Marcus Golding